Sir Cliff Richard: Bigger than life, but, yet human

Sir Cliff will be celebrating his Golden Jubilee in Showbiz next year. Cliff Richard along with Hank Marvin, Jet Harris, Paul Marvin, Warren Bennett, Bruce Welch and Brian Bennett will re-group for the very last time in 2008 for the 50 musical years celebration of Cliff .

He was there from the tender stages of rock and roll to the era that fad went out of fashion. Yet, Sir Cliff Richard never lost his popularity or the command of respect that he built up among his admirers that may well read over a few millions, but, surely not less than that.

Sitting on that pedestal of being a pop icon for almost six long decades is thing that one can't buy; you simply must possess some other magic to hit that right tingle with every note in music that he sends across the airwaves right into your ears.

A chance to meet this person who had built his own domain in the pop kingdom, I could not just resist. But, once I met him the picture that I had painted on him in my mind just fitted without any external force. He just looked the same. Then when he spoke my admiration of this man went a few slots higher.

Coming from the humble beginnings that he says, as I could fathom he is a man of many a good virtue. He stood by the English traditions that he should be proud of being and Englishman. His greatest moment in life was the moment that the Queen of England bestowed the knighthood upon him and he is very serious that people should address him in the correct manner. This is for the simple reason that you can work for anything in life and may or may not achieve it. But a knighthood is a thing that you cannot work for it is a thing that you get for your achievements through the eyes of other people.

Another note in him that hit the correct cord was his love towards his parents and his family and the traditions that they stood for. He said that he did not want to do anything that his father would not have approved of. Every single deed in his life he looked through that perspective and lived by it.

He was humble enough to admit that he was born in the right era to be able to retain his popularity so long because the people of that era helped you along to bring out the star in you. He admitted that he had to wait for five singles to get a number one and thus open his inning in the big time. But, he feels sad that many a talented artistes' fall by the wayside just for the simple reason that they cannot make it quickly enough to the helm of activities so that the industry will sustain you thereafter.

Then among the other things the album that enjoys the most is 'Thriller" by Michael Jackson and feels how on earth that person could have so many hits just bundled into one.

These are few of the points that told me that - here is a man who is bigger than life but, yet is humble enough to admit that he is still human.